Scots drugs minister says death stats remain 'far too high' despite eight per cent fall

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland's drug deaths crisis shows signs it might be improving as new figures show an eight per cent reduction last year. The significant downturn has sparked cautious optimism that our nation might be turning a corner after years of campaigning by the Daily Record for action to tackle the problem.

More women died of overdoses in the new stats, which has provoked concern. But less young people died, according to latest numbers, based on Police Scotland estimates, which reveal a total of 1,295 wasted lives in 2021.

Scotland’s drugs policy minister Angela Constance re-affirmed her determination to turn the crisis around - and admitted there is still a lot of work to do.

She insisted more people will be able to get treatment and that new targets for rehab will soon be published as part of plans to reduce deaths further.Ms Constance said: “I know that despite this decline in the number of suspected drug deaths, the figure is still far too high and, as I have said before there is much hard work to be done to turn this public health emergency around.“Getting people into the treatment which works for them is key and we continue to embed the new Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) standards which reinforce a rights-based approach for people who use drugs and the treatment they should expect regardless of their circumstances. “We also aim to increase the number of publicly funded residential rehabilitation placements by more than 300 per cent over the lifetime of this Parliament and I will also shortly be announcing a target to increase the number of people in treatment. “There has been a slight increase in the number of deaths among females and we are committed to tackling the barriers which prevent women from accessing